“We came together as a team,” Terrell said. “We put the team on our back, on both sides, and we all just knew that we stood a chance to come through. We focused.”

Terrell, it seems, was focused all season long. He won a competitive battle in fall camp to secure a starting position at cornerback as a sophomore. A 6-foot-2, 190-pounder from Atlanta, Terrell said every year is a clean slate, and that’s one of the primary reasons he likes coach Dabo Swinney’s approach.

If you perform better in practice, you’ll get the nod, regardless of seniority.

Once the season’s under way, the competition continues, Terrell said. The focus is a step-by-step process that has served the program well while notching eight consecutive seasons of 10 or more victories.

“Every year’s a new year, so we just come in working,” Terrell said. “We never look at the big picture – just the opponent ahead of us.”

Terrell emerged as a steady influence in the secondary and wound up with 43 tackles. He tied for the team lead with two interceptions, with his second coming against Pittsburgh in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Game.

Terrell returned that theft 31 yards and felt like the secondary regained at least a degree of respect following a 510-yard passing game by South Carolina quarterback Jake Bentley in the Tigers’ regular-season finale.